From being an Abandoned who had rarely left the Hollowed Grounds, to embracing the call of adventure, to dying and being reborn first as an Ascended and then as an Ancient, Maea has gone through quite the amount of changes in her life. One thing remains common, though, in her attempts to find out just where she belongs; she’s always had a craving for knowledge which has brought her to so many places and to meet so many people here in Caido. We can’t wait to see what else is in store for her!
Congratulations, Maea!
Credits
Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
Skinning and hosting by the epically talented Kaons, and functionality fanciness by the coding magic of Neowulf. If you ever see either of them around, make sure to show them some love!
02-11-2020, 10:27 PM (This post was last modified: 02-11-2020, 10:28 PM by Zhang.)
As he looked about his new surroundings, he heard the man wave away such formality of gesture, insisting that there was no need to repay him for his help. However, afterwards, the mood seemed to sour a bit since he was not so welcoming as before with his curt reply. To that the woman also gave a similarly curt reply, so for the time being at least Zhang felt like he should err on the side of caution and not take any unnecessary liberties with the two. So he remained silent, and instead listened to the man and the woman exchange retorts. After that little. exchange, she had turned to him and addressed him, so he brought his thoughts back under control to answer
"I see, good to know I am not alone here. Still, you have my gratitude, Ms. Rillian. My name is Zhang. It's nice to meet you."
He said, smiling his polite smile yet again in an effort to defuse the tension that seemed to be building up at the moment. He had a great many questions, but he figured it would be smart to just let Rillian take the lead and help him get his bearings again. So as to not leave the man out, he addressed him as well
"It's nice to meet you too, sir. Could I at least have the name of my savior so that I can remember your kindness?"
Then, he bowed to both of them in an effort to be even more polite and courteous and waited to see what would happen next.
Smirking at the woman's tone, Loren took a long pull from his flask. "You're forgiven." Again, he spoke in an almost mocking tone, completely ignoring any hint of annoyance she sent his way.
At the revelation that they were both Outlander, and new ones at that, however, the Launceleyn let out a long suffering sigh. "My name is Loren. And, in the interest of making sure you both get acclimated to Caido properly, I can stick around for a bit to answer any questions the two of you might have." However, he didn't sound and he wasn't happy about it, and he took another sip of his flask.
Rillian didn't really care for the man's tone or his attitude. She would just as soon dismiss him and not have to deal with his unpleasant demeanor any longer. But she supposed that Zhang deserved true answers to his questions, more concrete information than she could give him, and so she did not attempt to dissuade Loren from helping him.
"You are in a land called Caido," Rillian said. "There are Portals that take some from their own worlds, like myself, and bring them here. They call us Outlanders for this reason." She guessed that Zhang was an Outlander as well, coming from some place quite different from her own, if his garb was an indication.
Zhang was relieved to that both Rillian and Loren were going to stay to answer his questions and get him up to speed on his new surroundings. After all, as the old aphorism went "two brains are better than one". So, he thanked Loren and continued listening intently to both him and Rillian, with the objective of gleaning as much data as he could from narratives.
"Cai...do...I see, so that's what this place is called by its inhabitants..."
He said slowly so as to get the pronounciation right lest he upset the two before him for some reason.
Well...safe to say I am not in Kansas anymore...oh man, how troublesome...well, nothing I can do about this, I guess...
That thought caused him a moment of profound depression, which in turn, caused him to let out a resigned sigh, but he forced his attention back to the narratives he was listening to lest Rillian and Loren pick up on his dejected mental state, and also since it was vital he not miss any bit of information. Shortly after, Rillian's narrative came to a close and so, he spoke
"Outlanders, eh?...that's quite intriguing...So...these...uh, Portals, was it?...Do they take people at random?...Or is there some intelligence behind them?...perhaps someone or something controlling them to bring certain people here but not others?"
He asked, as he was of course, curious as to why he was the one who got transported and not someone else. Sure, the fact he was alone in his car on that road, but still there were other cars passing by him which had seemed to escape the clutches of the fogbank that had started this whole ordeal.
Loren nodded at the man's question. "Caido is what it's called, yes." Surprisingly enough, the healer's tone was quite reasonable, almost practiced.
As the strange man asked what brought him here, however, the Launceleyn sighed and took a sip from his flask. "Supposedly there's some intelligence and thought behind it, though none of us are privy to what exactly it is or why it selects the people it selects." Pausing, he glanced at the woman.
"What I can tell you is that there is a goddess called The Voice. She was imprisoned, and so she set up the portals to bring in Outlanders to release her, since they didn't know her or the reasons behind her punishment. Supposedly, us Outlanders are selected by her in some manner that we don't quite understand yet." He shrugged, not at all bothered by this.
Rillian listened to Loren’s explanation, her expression calm and composed, though beneath her carefully maintained facade she found this new revelation rather concerning. Had this Voice sent her the dream that had brought her to the Portal? Had the goddess intended Rillian to come here, and if so, why? The thought that another god was out there pulling her strings, refusing her the freedom she’d only just begun to enjoy, was more than Rillian wanted to contemplate at the moment.
She gave a slight nod to Loren, acknowledging that she had nothing to add to his explanation. Rillian was new here, hardly an expert on anything in Caido, and clearly also not an adept healer who could save the life of another individual. Rillian did not feel bitter about this turn of events. But she did feel... purposeless. Like the one thing she’d defined herself as, a healer, had been taken away from her.
She would just need to work to retrieve that power, Rillian thought. She wasn’t sure how she was going to accomplish it, but she was going to try.
"Goddess?...You mean to say that this world has actual divinities in it? That's rather incredible to hear. So then, would I be correct in surmising that whatever the procedure was which you both performed on me earlier...is...something akin to...magic?"
He couldn't believe what he was hearing and naturally, his facial expression reflected his astonished mindframe, with clearly raised eyebrows and his jaw clearly slack; but given all the evidence he had been presented with so far, he was forced to accept that this world had more to it than just the material existence. He fell silent thereafter for a few moments and as he tried to process what he was hearing from the man who saved him, he noticed that Rillian, the woman who had assisted the man who healed his injuries was also going through some sort of mentsl struggle. However, it was not his place to pry so he left that issue alone for the time being.
"So what else do I need to know about this world? Starting from most essential and ending with the good to know topics?"
He asked to both Rillian and the man who healed him, and then waited for their replies if they saw fit to inform him.
02-13-2020, 04:51 PM (This post was last modified: 05-10-2020, 04:36 AM by Loren.)
Loren nodded at the other man’s question. ”There are many gods, yes. The Voice is just one, a new god, though that term is relative.” Hesitating slightly at the stranger’s next inquiry, the healer sighed, but nodded. ”It was magic, yes. However, it comes from within, and not from a divine source. In fact, the gods dislike those with such abilities, which is why we are called Abandoned.” The words were maybe a little bitter, but they also had a strangely practiced cadence.
Taking a sip from his flask, he shifted into a more comfortable position, sitting cross-legged. "This is going to be...hard for you to hear. But...you can never return to your old world." It came out surprisingly sympathetically, especially considering his earlier brusqueness.
